Hi, welcome to my very first nail polish post! Today, I'll be talking about my latest mani: Glass Cabinet by the indie nail polish brand Pahlish. Glass Cabinet was part of Pahlish's Russian Ballet Collection, which launched on Black Friday 2019 on Pahlish's website. As it was released quite a while ago, it's not in stock anymore -- at least, "a while ago" for an indie nail polish brand since indies have a tendency to only do a few batches for each release. So, if you want to get this shade now, you'd have to buy it from a destash. Nonetheless, even though this is an "older" polish that isn't available anymore, I still wanted to get this out into the ether to help anyone in the future who is buying this polish from a destash; I myself have been looking up a bunch of swatches/reviews of old releases for the past couple of days as I've been browsing destash sales. Bottle shot of Pahlish Glass Cabinet: this photo is more purple/periwinkle than the polish is in real life, and I had attempted to color correct it to get the polish more color accurate, which is why my skin/the background look a little wonky. Glass Cabinet was described by Pahlish as a "soft sky blue with a mix of iridescent flakes." I was initially really drawn to this shade because: 1) iridescent flakies look so magical, and 2) the pale blue base makes this shade look even more magical. I think "Glass Cabinet" is such the perfect name because the combination of the iridescent flakies and the pale blue base truly is like glass. Photo from indoors with natural, window-filtered light Outside photos: direct sunlight vs. shade For this swatch, I used Cuccio Base Coat + 4 coats of Glass Cabinet + 1 thick coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. The base shade -- which I would more so describe as a pastel dusty blue rather than a "soft sky blue" -- is quite sheer. I used 4 coats to get an intense, opalescent effect and to get full coverage, though I feel like I still have the slightest hint of visible nail line. Even so, in the past, I have used fewer coats, had more visible nail line, and still liked how my mani looked. I've also used it before as a topper over a creme polish. Regardless, having a sheerer base is necessary for the flakies to be able to shine through, and the extra coats give you a more dimensional look. Because of the flakies, the formula of Glass Cabinet overall does feel thick. Nonetheless, it was still easy to apply, and the polish (including the flakies) applied evenly across the nail. I also like the density of the flakies for the opacity of the base color. Like I said earlier, I love how magical iridescent flakies make your nails look! I don't think I did a fabulous job of capturing the true intensity of the iridescence as it is in real life; you can see the flip in all sorts of lighting, not just in direct sunlight. To smooth it out, you could either use 2 layers of top coat (what I've done in the past) or one thick layer (what I did here). Also, unlike glitter polishes, flakie polishes such as this one are not particularly difficult to remove. I like the Pahlish brush, too. I think it would be considered a wide flat brush, but for my nails, it's not so big that it's messy and easy to inadvertently overload with too much polish (like the KL Polish or Orly brushes). However, it's still really easy to control and spreads out effortlessly, so I don't have any issues with streaking, clumping, etc.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised by how much I like Glass Cabinet on me. Even though I think this is "objectively" a pretty polish, in general, I think warm-toned polishes are more flattering on my skintone (and I usually prefer them anyway from a purely aesthetic standpoint). So, I was worried that I wouldn't like this shade on me, but I actually do think it looks nice: possibly because it's more of a muted color, possibly because the pink flip of the flakies lends some warmth to the overall visual effect. However, ultimately, though there aren't issues with the formula or anything, and overall I do genuinely really like this, I don't love love it purely due to a personal preference for warmer tones. I had gotten this shade off of the Pahlish website back in January for $12 (with $3.20 shipping to the US) with no issues with my order (that I can recall), and I found it to be a very appropriate shade for winter -- though I'm not really a person who adheres to seasonal colors anyway. If you're planning on getting this polish, I hope you enjoy it, too!
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about @glowyminoI have dry skin and very dry and textured lips. I also have a medium-light skintone (somewhere in the realm of NC25-30) with strong warm yellow/olive undertones. I have a tendency to prefer a glowy, lightweight base and color cosmetics in shades of a warm undertone. Read more about me in the about page! Archives
May 2024
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